A Certain Lack of Conversation
by Kay Willow
Summary: After the war, the gang reunite for a day at the circus, and someone gets to know Wufei a little better... [Unusual pairing]


(Psst! Looking for a yaoi GW fic? Know about Megami Kouhosei, Candidate for Goddess, Pilot Candidate? Go here: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=738590 . That's going to be a crossover between GW and MK, and I PROMISE it'll be good. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled fic.) 

This fic has been waiting for my attention for eons. I never published it because I'm sure that nobody would care about the [extremely unusual] pairing, and thus wouldn't read it. ^_^ However, I am an award-winning writer and well-respected in several fandoms... so give it a shot, okay? I promise that, whether you wind up liking the pairing or not, it isn't BAD. 

Anyway, this fic is all about openmindedness: so while the main pairing is het, there are yaoi elements on the side. I beg the three-fourths of you who are yaoi fans not to just press the "back" button. Unless you're a diehard Treize/Wufei fan. I suppose then you should back out. I really do believe that Wufei is heterosexual, despite the fact that I can see him with several of the guys in the series, and this is kind of an... interesting reaction to a moment in Blind Target. 

Bear with me! 

* * *

A CERTAIN LACK OF CONVERSATION   
by Kay Willow 

She'd observed before that quiet boys seemed to prefer the company of other quiet boys, but she was sure that THESE TWO quiet boys carried it to extremes. 

They'd been better earlier, when all five of the Gundam pilots had been assembled for a reunion-type thing. The small gathering of friends had spent hours talking (well, three-fifths of them had talked) and laughing (to be honest, just two of them had laughed) and joking (actually, only one had joked) about times gone by. They'd discussed their current lives, and no one had aired any complaints. Cathrine would swear that she'd actually seen Trowa smile FOUR TIMES that night, and that was an impressive number for Trowa -- in the three years she'd known him, she could count the times he'd smiled at her, or even simply around her, without running out of fingers. 

Then Heero and Duo had left, the latter announcing that the shuttles directing them to their respective colonies were departing early in the morning and they needed to get a good night's sleep before heading down to the lifts. Only fifteen minutes later Quatre had followed them, claiming weariness and the need to check up on anything that had been reported from his associates in L4 before resting for the night. Leaving Wufei, who had been given a week's leave from the Preventers and had asked permission to stay with Trowa and Cathrine for at least one of those nights. 

Actually, Sally had made the request. A more accurate synopsis of it would involve how the last thing she needed was a bored Wufei stalking around like an insulted panther and scaring off her fiancé, who was intimidated enough by mere stories about the young man. 

Now, Wufei and Trowa sat around the campfire in a very familiar scenario, and Cathrine watched them with tolerant amusement. They hadn't spoken a single word in more than half an hour. When she'd come by to warn them that if they didn't lighten up they were going to put out the flames through sheer force of intensity, they'd all but outright denied hearing her. And when one of the stunguns used on the elephants misfired, they'd both rocketed to their feet and reached for weapons they no longer carried, then glanced at each other as if uncomfortable with their foolishness and sat down again, ignoring her riotous laughter. 

"How was it for you boys?" she asked cheerily, getting a visible start from Wufei, who immediately glowered at her. "Did you enjoy seeing everyone again?" 

Trowa looked up at her with the same calm slowness she'd come to expect from him. "It was good," he said softly. "They haven't changed." 

Wufei's hostile bearing eased, automatic defenses lowering. He nodded thoughtfully, his back to her and his face to the fire. "It was a good night. After we all returned to our lives outside of war, I certainly never thought we'd have reunions--" 

"You did SO," Cathrine teased. "You didn't REALLY think that someone as clingy as that baka with the braid was going to let his friends go so easily? Or that sweet little Quatre-kun was just going to ignore you?" 

Wufei gave her a half-smile and returned his attention to the fire. 

She muffled an instinctive surge of impatience. Honestly, they're impossible. How do they expect me to have a conversation with them if they refuse to talk?> 

"I like them all," she announced to no one in particular, moving to seat herself beside Trowa. He spared her an impassive glance out of the corner of his eyes, but had no other reaction. Ignoring the way they were ignoring her, she went on relentlessly, "I've had mixed feelings about Heero from the beginning. I mean, on the one hand he is responsible for the only time I've EVER seen Trowa laugh; but on the other hand he told Trowa something that inspired him to try and commit suicide." She nudged the boy under discussion meaningfully, but he failed to respond. 

Wufei, on the other hand, looked almost interested. He didn't show it, of course, but having been Trowa's big sister for as long as she had, she'd learned to recognize the subtleties of hidden emotions: while he continued to watch the dancing flames with no visible notice of her words, his frame was tenser than it would normally have been and he seemed to be staring beyond the fire rather than at it. 

Well, at least I've got SOMEONE'S attention.> Thrilled that this strange boy was listening to her, she continued. "That loud-mouthed twit, Duo... I wasn't too pleased to see him at first, because first impressions are always the most lasting and my first impression of HIM was that some thoughtless jerk was shaking Trowa and not even realizing that he was TRAUMATIZING a defenseless kid who obviously didn't know who he was." She shook her head, smiling. "But by the time he left tonight I really, really liked him. He's funny, and just about the only one of you guys who likes talking as much as I do." 

She waited patiently. Trowa made no move. Wufei shook his head for a moment before catching himself and remembering that he wasn't supposed to be listening. 

"Then there's Quatre-kun." Cathrine chuckled self-consciously. "By the time I got to meet HIM, I was thoroughly paranoid about all these screwed up people who wanted to put Trowa BACK in that horrible war, and as far as I was concerned Quatre-kun was just another one of those bad guys. Now, I think he's probably just about the most lovable kid ever." She winked at Trowa and leaned into his shoulder. "And in return he loves everyone just about unconditionally. He's going to make some lucky girl... or GUY... very happy." 

Trowa half-turned to look at her, then saw her smirking at him and returned his gaze to the flames. There was a slight flush on his cheeks. 

I'll wear you down yet, Little Brother! I'm going to set you up happily if it's the last thing I do, and Quatre-kun just ADORES you. Everyone knows it.> Cathrine hummed to herself, pleased, and mock-glared at Wufei. "You're the only one who didn't socialize with me at all," she said accusingly. 

Wufei raised his head and looked her in the eye, appearing a bit surprised. "I didn't feel that we needed to," he said simply. 

Didn't feel that we...? What kind of a thing is that to say?> She frowned at him, uncertain. "I don't know about YOU, but I'd like to get to know you better!" 

He shrugged, a bit embarrassed to judge by the sudden wandering of his eyes. "There's not much to tell." 

"Liar," she laughed. "I can see right through you." She leapt lightly to her feet and waved at the boys cheerily, carefully not evaluating Wufei's reaction. "I'm going to go prepare your beds for tonight. You boys come in when you're done soaking up the silence." 

She skipped into the trailer, singing under her breath. What a dear boy. Maybe I ought to adopt him, too.> The thought of Wufei in the circus was laughable. What could he possibly do that would fit the dignity he wore like a weapon? 

Cathrine eyed the pull-out bed with some displeasure. She had been thrilled to allow Wufei to spend the night, but a bit concerned because of the lack of room in the trailer she and Trowa shared. The two boys had volunteered to sleep on opposite sides of the sofabed, which was enough justification for her. 

Trowa should really appreciate what a loving sister he has.> She hauled out an extra set of sheets from the tiny closet and thought about the two boys outside. 

Her little brother was, as usual, the focus of her thoughts. Granted, he wasn't her brother. At least, probably not. But he felt like a brother to her, and he needed a sister so badly, and whenever he called her 'Neesan' it had felt so RIGHT... So as far as she was concerned, he was her brother. Nothing to be debated there. 

What bothered her was the way he lived. He was a creature of routine, living his life by a certain set of habits that were simple enough to notice since they spent most of their time together and which hadn't varied much since they'd first met. Every evening after a performance, he went straight to their trailer and relaxed on the sofa. Every day without a performance, he would practice his act for a few hours but otherwise remain within the trailer. Every time she asked him to run an errand for her, he went straight where she'd asked and came straight back without unnecessary side-trips or conversations. The only time he broke from these patterns was when the Gundam pilots came to visit. 

Today and tomorrow, his entire schedule would be rearranged to accommodate Wufei. Trowa seemed to take it upon himself to conform his life to whatever was most convenient for those around him, and it distressed Cathrine that he wouldn't take more of a stand. 

Of course, the effort was hardly wasted. She'd only seen Wufei a handful of times in the years since Trowa had joined up with her, but it had already been enough for her to grasp his personality fairly well. She was delighted to see how well he and Trowa got along, and was even more pleased to know that he had no reservations about joking around with her, in his reserved and dignified manner. 

/"I never thanked you... for that HORRIBLE soup you made us that one time."/ 

That comment hadn't even bothered her, although coming from anyone else it probably would have. She supposed it was because she was simply glad to see that a boy she had always thought of as quite like Trowa was able to casually banter with her. 

/"You'd better bring Trowa back safe, or else I'll make you eat some more!"/ 

In spite of the fact that the dark young man was still a mystery to her, and she knew nothing more than his basic personality, she felt at ease with him. Most of the others made her nervous even now -- it was hard NOT to be nervous about Heero, and on the other hand it was impossible to be nervous about Quatre; Duo had struck a wrong key with her in that initial meeting, and it was hard to get over first impressions -- but Wufei she definitely liked. 

She finished making the pull-out bed for them, and nodded to herself, satisfied with the job. 

"I can clean just about anything, and I can tidy up a house like nobody's business, and no matter what that Wufei says I CAN cook. I'm going to make somebody a good wife someday," she announced to herself proudly. "Just as soon as I find the right guy and bring him to the altar at dagger-point!" 

That thought provoked a mental image that sent her into gales of laughter. She was still giggling when the door opened and Trowa ducked inside, Wufei muttering something under his breath about crazy women from behind him. 

"What was that?" Cathrine said sweetly, sobering as much as she ever did. "Did you just offer to wash the dishes from dinner? Why thank you, how considerate a guest you are!" 

He rolled his eyes, but didn't protest. He went wordlessly into the tiny kitchen area. 

Trowa studied her with an impassionate eye, and she grinned at him. "Go brush your teeth," she scolded, mother-hen clucking in the back of her throat. "And then comb your hair and put on your pyjamas." 

He shook his head, smiled minutely, and vanished into the bedroom with leonine grace. 

"Comb your hair," Cathrine murmured to herself, looking down at the makeshift bed. "Or it'll get stuck that way." 

There was a disdainful snort from the kitchen. Cathrine ignored it. "I'm going outside, boys. When I come back in, I want you both to be tucked in and waiting for a bedtime story," she called in playful singsong. When neither man dignified that with an answer, she simply sidled over to the door and left. 

She sighed into the cool night air and settled herself on the second step down from the trailer. The sounds of the circus -- various animals expressing their opinions, trainers and acrobats talking about mundane matters in excited voices, low discordant music of random practicing from the band's tent -- had all faded now; the 'night' that had fallen across L3 had muffled everything. The only noise in the entire colony, it seemed, was her heart beating. 

Cathrine stared up at the twinkling lights above her, allowing herself to be lost in private thoughts. Somehow it seemed like a fitting end to a day spent with an endless crowd of people: her coworkers, her employers, her audiences, her brother, her brother's friends. The only thing she hadn't accomplished was personal reflection, and she meant to do some of that now. 

Her life was good, she decided, as she always did. Now that the war was over and the circus was on the move and Trowa was with her on a regularly nonhostile basis, how could she help but be content? It was really all she needed to be happy: she had a family where she meant something, a job where she could be something, even galactic peace, if she was being especially unselfish. What more did she need? 

Sometimes, she wasn't sure there was more to life than what she already had. 

Cathrine let her mind wander... 

"You're not sleeping out here, are you?" 

...Cathrine jerked out of her reverie, blinking in confusion at the dark young man she hadn't heard approach. I must've lost track of time. Maybe I drifted off.> She quickly regained her composure, turning back to the twinkling lights overhead that children often assumed were stars. "No," she answered simply. "I'M sleeping on the bed." 

His lips twitched, and he surprised her by moving to stand beside her. She felt almost small at his feet, even though they were the same height, but she didn't get the aura of horror and pain that seemed to accompany most of the soldiers she'd met. They came to her sometimes, using the circus to escape their own despair and then unconsciously gravitating towards the circus girl who played with death every time she went onstage, feeling somehow as though she would understand their own anguish. But she'd never killed a man, never watched friends get blown to pieces in warfare, and could only pity the lonely souls that tried to seek comfort by talking to her. Few of them had ever gotten as close to her as Wufei was now; she had a strict policy of never letting members of the audience come within a foot of her, and attempts to break that personal space were met with a knee to the groin and fist to the nose. 

But every time the soldiers had managed to get close to her, she could see the nightmare afterimages dancing behind their eyes, smell it on them like smoke. For some reason, that sensation didn't accompany Wufei. 

They simply rested there thoughtfully, studying the scattered pinpoints of light that glimmered on the outer curve of L3. The quiet felt different, too, Cathrine decided; with her brother the silence was a way to hide himself, but Wufei's seemed to convey that he was still there, with her, just thinking. Trowa's muteness was antisocial and distant, but the same thing coming from Wufei seemed warmer in Cathrine's mind. 

Almost friendly. 

Yeah, right. Friendly indeed. I'll be surprised if he remembers my name after he leaves here.> 

"Cathrine," he said suddenly, as if reading her thoughts. "Have you ever wondered about your future?" 

The young woman shrugged it off. She didn't answer leading questions unless she was certain of their purpose. "Sure. Everyone does. Why?" 

"That's not quite what I mean." He struggled for a moment, expression preoccupied, and Cathrine glanced up at him curiously. She noticed that his hair was loose, falling about his face and shadowing his eyes. It was amusing to realize that his hair was nicer than hers. "Are you going to do this for the rest of your life? Play the clown, literally?" He waved at the gaudy tents, then folded his arms again. 

Cathrine frowned at him. This isn't a question to help him sort out a problem. He really is asking about me.> Uneasy, she responded, "Probably not. I'll outgrow the circus in a few more years; you need to be young and beautiful to be a true performer in this arena, and soon enough I'll fail to meet at least one of those requirements." 

A skeptical snort from her companion made her feel immensely grateful. She never deluded herself about her looks -- she was hardly possessed of any kind of classical beauty; pretty at best -- but it was sweet of him to pretend otherwise. 

"Trowa and I will eventually just have to go get real jobs," she continued. "I could see myself doing any number of things in the future, but what I really enjoy doing is being in front of people and cooking. Although some would have an objection to my cooking for a living." She sent a pointed glare at Wufei, who hid a smile behind his hand. "But why would you ask something like that? What does it matter?" 

The Chinese man was caught off-guard by the turnabout. He was forced to think for a moment about an answer. "It was only a question," he demurred after a moment with no luck. "You're... the kind of person who seems to have a goal in mind." Gradually, he sank down to the step and settled himself next to her. 

"Well, of course I do." Cathrine leaned back comfortably against the door, mulling that over. "We all have goals, every single person. The only difference is the earnestness we feel towards that goal; some people are determined and passionate enough to go after their goals with everything that they have, while others will sit back and wait for a chance to snatch at their goals with a minimum of effort." 

Wufei was silent for a long minute. Then he asked slowly, "Which are you?" 

"The former," she said assertively. "I just don't need to rush into the future, because my current goal is just to look out for Trowa." 

He almost grinned, but something serious was weighing him down all of a sudden. "If there was someone you knew," he said, half to himself, "who didn't agree with your philosophy of life, what would you do about him?" 

Cathrine rested her arms across her knees, pondering that. There was something she couldn't guess at guiding his questions now. "I'd try to find out why," she said after a moment. "Probably show him my way of thinking and try to convince him of it. I tend to be a little bossy like that." She felt strangely embarrassed about it. 

Wufei was staring up at the non-stars. "What if that person ignored you? To the point where he was endangering things that you cared about with his obstinacy?" 

"I..." Cathrine looked at him, hard. She could guess who the mysterious 'person' was now. Now she had to figure out who she was playing substitute for. "I don't know. It depends on the situation. Under some, I'd charge right in and smack him for a while if he was acting like an idiot. Under others, I'd try to talk to him about it, help him understand why the way he's acting is idiotic. And in an extreme situation..." She cocked her head, thinking about it, then smiled. "...I guess I'd just have to help get him out of danger." 

Wufei blinked at her. "Who said he was in danger?" 

"You did," she pointed out. "You said the things I cared about were in danger, and why would his opinion matter to me if I didn't care about him?" 

His dark eyes flew wide, as if it had never occurred to him before. 

Cathrine felt triumphant. She didn't know what he was dancing around, but it was clear to see that he felt badly about an incident in the past where he and someone he cared about were in trouble, but because of his stubbornness that person got hurt. Obviously, the thought that this person cared about him in return was new for him; she was glad to have enlightened him. It seemed a natural conclusion -- she knew that if Trowa was in danger, she would hardly listen to anyone's advice against helping him unless she cared deeply about that person. 

Curiosity ate at her, until she was compelled to act on it. "So who exactly are we talking about here, in this hypothetical situation of yours?" 

The young man looked at her with a sad resignation in his gaze, then turned to study the veiled cages where Trowa's lions slept. 

There was an incredibly long minute of silence. Cathrine waited patiently, and began to wonder if perhaps this subject -- even though it couldn't possibly have been new to him -- was still too painful to talk about. She began to have dire suspicions about the situation in question. 

I'm willing to bet anything that the person I'm acting out is dead.> 

She fixed her attention on the silent trailer behind her. Trowa was still awake. Was he worried, or was he simply afraid to come out and potentially interrupt something private? 

In spite of Cathrine's automatic disbelief at the notion that this conversation might be private, she knew that it probably was. Some instinct told her that this was a story he hadn't shared with anyone, even those he had come to befriend. 

After a quick peek at Wufei's downturned face, she felt exasperation rise in her. Of course... he might yet never get around to telling me this story.> 

After only a few seconds, the harsh thought reversed itself. There are some things that you just can't tell,> she concluded, sympathetic in spite of herself. I'll put him out of his misery.> 

Cathrine clambered to her feet, dusting off her jeans. "It's getting chilly out here," she announced brightly, folding her arms over her tank top. She didn't look back at Wufei, still standing above her on the topmost step that led into the trailer. "I think I've had enough stargazing for one--" 

"Imagine a hypothetical situation." His smooth tenor cut off her excuses, wrapping around her and paralyzing her where she stood. 

"There might, in this hypothetical situation, be a boy," murmured Wufei, now staring right at the back of her head. "Maybe about eleven. Perhaps he is heir to a clan -- the Dragon Clan, or something like that -- but what he really want to do is learn, and teach, and take in all the knowledge the world had to offer him with insatiable curiosity." 

Cathrine shivered, more from a dawning sense of dread than from the chill she'd mentioned. No, I'm guessing this isn't a good story at all.> She spared a brief moment to wonder if starting this conversation was wise, but her innate drive to help others seized control, and when Wufei spoke next she was listening with all the attention his story deserved. 

"Also in this hypothetical situation, maybe there's a girl," he continued blithely, but his casual tone was a lie. "Around the same age, I guess. She might be obsessed with her clan's warrior heritage, believe that fighting is the noblest thing a man -- or woman -- could do. A time-honored tradition. You could even imagine, if this were real, that she would go so far as to call herself Nataku, after the Chinese god of justice." 

For a brief moment, Cathrine was startled out of her concentration. Trowa had mentioned, once or twice, that Wufei had referred to his Gundam as 'Nataku'. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or saddened to learn that there was a person who had once belonged to that same name. 

There was the muffled sound of cloth shifting; Cathrine could imagine him standing and turning to rest his back against the frame of the door, looking up at the opposite side of the colony without really seeing it. 

Then, lightly, he added, "Maybe the two children are engaged to be married." 

Cathrine's hand flew of its own volition to her heart, and she clenched it into a fist. The surprise of the words was nearly drowned out by the horror of what they implied, as her mind quickly made all the connections and recognized the potential for disaster. 

"If you have a really good imagination, maybe you can flesh out this hypothetical situation without help," Wufei noted dryly, seeing the motion even in the darkness. "But the boy might be too involved in his books to pay any attention to his young wife, and she might be so dedicated in making him appreciate the worthiness of fighting that she overlooked his dislike of combat. Maybe she's been fed rumors all her life about the great warrior of the Dragon Clan she was to marry, and wants to see proof of it." 

There was a brief pause, hardly enough to be noticed, but filled with agony all the same. "Maybe he was too much of a coward to be a proper husband to her." 

His voice was tinged with emotion now, but Cathrine couldn't bring herself to stop him. Refusing to let him share it with her was hardly going to erase the source of his pain, nor was it going to let him forget about the 'hypothetical situation' they'd created. 

"Perhaps every now and then he lost his temper, and agreed to fight with her. And, being the great warrior he was supposed to be, I guess he won every time." He sounded furious. "Maybe he ignored her when it suited him, and maybe he took away all her pride when he didn't ignore her, and maybe he never told her that in spite of it all he had come to..." 

He trailed off for a moment. Cathrine realized, with some surprise, that she was on the verge of crying. It wasn't something she indulged in often; being a confident and proud girl, Cathrine considered it silly to break into tears to express her unhappiness. This was different somehow. This was Wufei's unhappiness, something he'd lived with for years and held close to his heart and never shared with anyone until now. 

Poor Wufei... I never imagined.> 

"That in spite of it all he had come, maybe, to care for her a bit." He brushed on before letting that strike a chord in her. "Maybe this clan was in a lot of trouble because they refused to acknowledge the dominance of a hypothetical military organization. Maybe, one day, this theoretical military organization decided to punish the clan by wiping them all out." 

Cathrine turned around slowly. He stood exactly as she had imagined, in profile to her; his eyes were closed as he continued his story, but she could see tears glittering on the lashes. 

Wufei shrugged without looking at her, and smiled, a brittle and dark expression. "Maybe the boy refused to fight, because he didn't believe in fighting. And maybe the girl scorned him for his cowardice, and went off to try and save their people in her husband's place." 

It wasn't cowardice, Wufei, don't you see?> But the way he told the story, it was clear that he didn't see, that he was as blind as Trowa had been when he'd first come to her. Cathrine found herself wishing that she could find that 'hypothetical boy' and just hold him, make him understand that he'd been right to advocate pacifism, but... 

But sometimes you needed to fight, as she'd learned. Sometimes there was no other way. And Wufei was not some hypothetical boy, and a grown woman did not take a grown man who was almost a complete stranger and hold him, no matter how sad his story. 

"Maybe she died." 

He opened his eyes, and looked at her with a desperate need for reassurance. She wondered how she'd reached this point with him, this boy she had always known was cool and secretive. It seemed so bizarre -- so random, so totally extraordinary, as if he needed to tell his story to someone and SHE had been the one he'd chosen -- that she couldn't help feeling responsible somehow. This was his greatest secret, the traumatic past that had led him to Gundam, which he had told no one else. 

I feel like he's asking me to help him. Maybe... maybe he's telling me the story because he wants me to tell him he's wrong.> Determination flooded her. Maybe I do have the power to make him feel better.> 

Wufei blinked once, half-shaking his head, and when he returned to the story his eyes were dry. 

"Maybe he entered the fight too late, and did all he could to save her, but I guess he was only in time to see to it that she passed away on a hilltop surrounded by her favorite flowers." Wufei took a deep breath. "And perhaps this hypothetical boy took up her pursuit of justice with a fervor, and devoted his life to it, knowing only too late how much he had loved his wife. One supposes he might go on like that forever, unable to stop the vicious cycle, always locked up in the need to become worthy of the brave girl-child that had been taken from him." He shrugged again. "He probably never moved on." 

"That's not how my theoretical situation goes." 

Caught off-guard by Cathrine's sudden insertion, Wufei only blinked. 

I've only got one chance to do this, so I have to do it right.> Cathrine hardened herself against a possibly unpleasant response. He might not want to hear what she had to say, might have been living with this conviction for so long that accepting any other belief would make his whole life seem pointless. She was going to tell him anyway. After all this time, I think Wufei deserves some relief!> 

Without waiting for a prompt, she enlightened him. "In my situation, maybe the girl loved the boy just as much as he loved her. And maybe the reason she kept trying to get him to fight her wasn't because she wanted him to become more like her, but because the scholar she cared about was always caught up in his books." Cathrine smiled at him, but it felt crooked on her face. "Maybe she didn't want to change him at all; I think perhaps she just wanted the warrior she knew was a part of him to come out and play with her for a bit." 

Wufei was shaking his head. "If she had, then all she had to do was--" 

"But would the boy ever listen to her?" Cathrine interrupted, turning the situation away from real life and back to the realm of imagination. "Even when she kept challenging him, he ignored her. Why would she tell him that she wanted to have the chance to love all of him when he seemed so determined to hide himself from her?" 

His breath hissed through his teeth, and the black eyes were angry as they glared at her. 

Cathrine whirled away from him, unable to meet that gaze but unwilling to bow before it either. "I think scholars are cute," she informed the non-stars impishly. 

Wufei snorted, and the emotions she didn't like to feel from him were gone, lifted by his amusement. "Do you, then?" 

"It's true!" Cathrine glanced back over her shoulder. "I guess I agree with the boy. I hate fighting. But I don't agree with what he did with himself. Fighters don't do anything for me, but I find scholars hopelessly attractive." 

His grin softened somewhat. "Do you, then?" 

"If I ever married someone," she went on expansively, "it would be a scholar. And we'd build an entire room in our house for his books!" 

"Would you, then?" 

His tone of voice had grown entirely too soft. It made her feel nervous. Cathrine changed the topic. "It's probably just me, but my hypothetical situation isn't so hopeless for the poor boy. I think he could learn to live his own life again, once he'd participated in some great quest in the name of justice, so discharging his debt to her." She fluttered a hand in the air, vaguely. It wasn't really important. "He could learn to go back to being a scholar, and learn to fulfill his dreams about knowing everything the world had to offer, and maybe learn to love again." 

The words sat on the air, and Cathrine heard them echo in her ears as she listened to the silence. Every second that passed by, they grew more intimate and meaningful. And that was NOT what I meant.> 

Flushing uneasily, she amended, "I don't know about that last. But that's what happens in romance novels, and the like." 

"Do you read romance novels?" Wufei asked, laughter in his voice. 

She was grateful that he was going to move on like a gentleman, instead of demanding to know what she meant by that, or insisting that her silence had been pointed instead of attentive. "No. But some of the other girls do." 

"There are other girls here at the circus? I hadn't noticed." He smirked at her, sloe-dark eyes teasing. "Do they all cook as badly as you?" 

Cathrine shook a fist at him defiantly. "Fiend! Insulting a lady's culinary skills! I'll have to have my brother call you out." 

"You would never," he countered, "because you don't believe in fighting, remember?" 

"It doesn't have to be fighting," she told him loftily. "But you and Trowa shall have a Scrabbles duel at sundown." 

Wufei laughed, a genuine laugh such as she'd never heard from him before, filled with mirth and happiness. It made her heart ache, after the pain and despair that had been in his voice as he told her about himself. 

His eyes were glinting as he looked back at her. "I guess I'll win," he said simply. "I'm a scholar, after all." 

They stood there in a companionable silence, just looking at each other. He'd moved the hypothetical situation and placed it straight into his lap, and there was no more pretense that it was just some figment of their imaginations, but it wasn't an unpleasant change at all. The lack of conversation, again, felt somehow right to Cathrine. It wasn't awkward or deliberate, but natural. Healthy. 

The dark young man shifted his weight, descending the steps until he was on level with her. "You really do remind me of her," he said, but the sadness wasn't so intense in his voice anymore. "You wouldn't have agreed on anything, but I think you'd have liked each other. And you're quite similar, in spite of your differences." 

"Alike how? Because we both think scholars are sexy?" Cathrine arched an eyebrow. 

"No," Wufei returned mournfully. "Because she couldn't cook, either." 

They both laughed that time, and she seated herself on the steps again, and he arranged himself beside her again, until they were back at their original positions from the very beginning of the discussion. 

Cathrine listened carefully to the silence as it stretched from seconds into minutes, both of them just placidly watching the sky. She decided, as she counted the minutes past fifteen, that she liked this manner of quiet. A certain KIND of lack of conversation that hovered about them, warm and somehow friendly. She could get used to this. 

He murmured to the living quiet, "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. Sleeping out here for the night." 

His words didn't break the atmosphere at all. Cathrine hugged herself, pleased, and continued to listen. 

The silence shattered. "Will you come back and visit? After you go back to the Preventers, I mean." It took a moment to identify the voice as her own. She felt betrayed that she herself had broken such a comfortable air. 

Wufei made a gesture, and his silk pants whispered along her arm as he moved. "I think I will," he said decisively. "I think I have a reason to come back." 

She didn't ask why, and it was only a single moment before that certain lack of conversation was back, enfolding them both in a tender silence. 

* * *

Thank you thank you THANK YOU, all four of you who made it this far. ^_^ You have my sincere thanks, and profuse gratitude, and whatever other synonyms you can think of. 

I hope you didn't all hate it too much... Please review, deshou? ^^ It's not my fault the only thing GW I wound up writing is an odd pairing! I think I may actually have coined Wufei/Cathrine; I wrote this thing years ago, and I don't notice it gaining a following or anything... ^_^ And if you know Megami Kouhosei, read my fics for that. ^_~ If you don't know Megami Kouhosei, I promise you'll love it -- why don't you follow the link to my webpage and read all about it? 

Comments, criticism, and gratuitous worship all appreciated! ^_^ 

--Kay Willow, relenting a bit from her Megami Kouhosei obsession to share her favorite [but unknown] het GW pairing with the world... or whoever can tolerate it   
MK Info Site: http://flash.to/dualpotential/   
Blog: http://kay_willow.livejournal.com/   
Email: kay_willow@hotmail.com   
Contact: (AIM) Savinsilk, (MSN) see email, (Yahoo) kay_willow 


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